How about the president of the United States demanding that pro sports players be fired for not standing for the anthem?

The president can say anything he wants and nobody will be fired or jailed for not standing. If China bans stuff they can jail people for doing watching stuff.

I too remember when a member of congress and a cabinet member both urged Google to fire someone because their comments had hurt the feelings of the American people.

No, actually I don't think that's a comparable situation.

I was expecting an example of the west punishing another government (or companies in another country) for free speech.

Google wasn’t censored by a government. That was a decision they decided to make (whatever you think of it, I don’t want to start a relitigation of that mess).

James Damore was fired by internal pressure inside Google, not pressure from the US government.

The US Sanctions and Embargos based on lawful use of economical policies as set forth by constitutional powers granted to the Executive Branch.

US Legislative and Executive branches attempts to censor free speech would almost certainly be challenged in court, as the right to free speech, and peacably assemble is one of the founding principles of the US.

Damore was fired for perpetuating gender stereotypes - even he confirmed as much with the press. Ironically enough, you can find that information and the memo through a quick Google search.

No, because: 1) Was not done through pressure from a government 2) Was not done to silence JD 3) Just because you have an opposing view does not mean you are being critical

But, you presented your case respectfully, so I don't think this should be downvoted.

Ironically, my example of what gets censored in the West, including a Wikipedia link, got, well, censored on HN (as in not visible for the majority of readers). Although yes, it doesn't come from the government, it's our society that is becoming less and less tolerant to points of view outside the accepted ideology.

While I agree that Damore's termination was an attempt to punish him for the views he had, I wouldn't put it anywhere in the same class as we are seeing with Chinese censorship. This is an entire country, a state government, deciding what people of other countries should be allowed to say, it is on par with Muslim views on comedic interpretations of Mohammed, and is likely to entice violence in much the same way.

The poster was asked to give an example of free speech being quieted, and gave an example of exactly that.

Damore was not quieted though. He was punished, but not quieted, as a matter of fact the controversy surrounding his termination bolstered his audience even further, and from the get go, he was never restricted on what he could or could not say by anyone.

And blizzard/China didn't "quiet" either, they just "punished".

Because apparently it's not quieting if you've punished someone for saying something.

and now let me go grab my eyeballs off the floor because they just rolled out of my head.

The topic thread was in response to the assertion that the "West" engages in suppressing dissent by censoring political speech in a manner that parallels what is happening with China.

The example given does not come close to that, but is an example of someone being censored.

In the US at least, censorship is typically brought on by pressure from sponsors and advertisers in response to public outcry.

In the US, The Freedom of Speech is heavily protected against government interference.